Young Americans: 20 Rockford-area high schoolers honored for activism

ROCKFORD — Young Americans blessed with smarts and a promising future because of their good deeds and sportsmanship received some advice today from documentarian Pablo Korona.

The videographer behind “Our City, Our Story,” a Boylan Catholic High School graduate, was the keynote speaker at the Franchesco’s Ristorante luncheon banquet for the 20 recipients of certificates, medals and recognition.

His advice was clear: Respect history. Know that its OK to veer from a common path. Seek out stories and strangers.

“I recognize the effects that I have ripple throughout the community,” he told the Rockford Register Star’s Young Americans, their parents and grandparents. “So that’s my message to you.

“When you do find something you want to do, you may get lost in kind of the day-to-day actions of what it is. But make sure it’s true in your pursuit of passion, make sure that it’s something that you really, really love and that you can do so wholeheartedly that it impacts others.

“When you start living for others, that’s the greatest reward you can have.”

Students paid attention and, afterward, were eager to move on with their futures. Like others before them, they said they wouldn’t mind returning to another banquet if their younger siblings or the children they have one day were Young Americans.

Hononegah High School student Kristen Althoff plans to attend Harvard University, where she may study biology and medicine in pursuit of a service career. Saturday’s gathering, she said, prepared her for the type of environment she’ll try to thrive in.

“It’ll be a bit of pressure,” she said. “It was kind of nice to get that feel and that atmosphere here to be around students of different schools performing at really high caliber to their communities. I’d be really proud to come back here.“

The Register Star has been honoring outstanding young adults since 1957, when it celebrated Freddie Mae Hearns of Harlem High School for saving neighborhood children from a burning house.

This year’s class was judged by former police Chief Jeff Nielsen; Patricia Gomez, who has ties to La Voz Latina; and Kimberla Lawson Roby, a New York Times best-selling author. They selected the 20 from among 200 applications.

“Having been raised up in Rockford and being a product of the Rockford School District, it’s just phenomenal to me to be able to see the credentials that these young people have. Their education, their community service,” Roby said. “It’s just a proud moment and an honor for me to be a part of this.”